Touge Strike Vintage Tee

峠の戦士 (tōge no senshi): "the warrior of the pass."

Usui Pass carried the Nakasendō, the inland highway between Edo and Kyoto, over the ridge from Gunma into Nagano, and the shogunate kept a checkpoint at Yokokawa to inspect everyone crossing. Trains made the climb from 1893 on a grade so steep they first needed a toothed rack rail. That rail section closed in 1997, when the bullet train line to Nagano opened, and the old road's hairpins kept the climb for drivers.

A green and white hatchback with pop-up lights drifts through smoke across the back, number 15 on its side, while 峠の戦士 (tōge no senshi) runs down one edge in green: 峠 "mountain pass" and 戦士 "warrior." The chest carries "Touge Warrior" and a smaller car, and the washed black already looks broken in.

Cargo pants or old jeans, it works with both and ends up in the weekly rotation fast. It's for the driver who knows every hairpin on the old road over Usui Pass. The washed ones live together with the vintage Japanese tees.

• Fabric: 100% combed cotton, 230gsm, pre-shrunk and soft-washed
• Print: direct-to-garment (DTG)
• Color: washed black
• Fit: unisex, regular; size up for a boxier, oversized look
• Sizes: S to 3XL
• Size reference: 6 ft 2 in wears L; 5 ft 7 in wears M

Measurements for every size are in the size guide.